


American Gods, Season 1, Episode 6, A Murder of Gods

by TheSomewhatRamblingReviewer



Category: American Gods (TV)
Genre: Analysis, Episode Review, Episode: s01e06 A Murder of Gods, Meta, Nonfiction, Season/Series 01, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-28
Updated: 2020-12-28
Packaged: 2021-03-10 19:34:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,748
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28372455
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSomewhatRamblingReviewer/pseuds/TheSomewhatRamblingReviewer
Summary: Warning: Contains spoilers for the episode and later seasons. Complete.





	American Gods, Season 1, Episode 6, A Murder of Gods

Open to Mexicans preparing to cross a river/lake to get into America. My stomach dropped when a little girl was shown, and I kept hoping she wasn’t going to be killed or somehow die by the end of this.

Eventually, a Mexican Jesus saves a man from drowning before walking on water.

Then, faceless people with guns shoot the immigrants, including the Mexican Jesus. At least one gun has ‘Thy Kingdom Come’ on it, and at least, one shooter is carrying a rosary. One of the bullets is shown to have ‘Vulcan’ inscribed into it.

As terrible as all those deaths are, I’m thankful the little girl, her mother, and her father weren’t shown getting killed. It’s implied they’re the sole survivors.

Over to Shadow and Odin, they’re walking down a deserted road in the middle of the night. Shadow has reached his threshold for the unexplainable bizarreness his life has become, and Odin continues to refuse to simply spell everything out.

Shadow admits he saw Laura alive.

Back in Shadow’s hotel room, they find it destroyed, and Shadow finds Laura’s ring.

Badmouthing Laura, Odin insists they leave ASAP. Upon getting Shadow in the car, he sees Laura in the rearview mirror, and turning the radio on loud, he floors it. Heh.

The scene stays on a frustrated Laura as she tries to find Audrey's car.

During this, the hotel clerk is more interested in a book than her, MS’s appearance, and the declaration the police are all dead.

As a cranky bookworm who is fairly adept at doing what he’s doing here, this is one time I would not be doing this. The last part would have me freaking the frell out.

Laura breaks the handcuffs on MS apart, and he talks about how he can take her to someone who can fully resurrect her. In return, once she’s fully alive again, she’ll give the coin back to him. Arguing over who gets to drive and who gets the toilet of a backseat, they decide to steal a cab.

Salim and his gun take exception to this, but having heard, at least, part of their conversation, he’s interested in whether MS is truly a leprechaun. Upon getting an affirmative, he’s automatically all, ‘I’m looking for this jinn. Any chance you know him and where I could find him?’ Awesome.

MS promises he’ll tell Salim where to find his jinn if Salim will take them to Kentucky.

Over to Shadow and Odin, Shadow’s wound from the tree starts acting up, and doing some magic to remove it, Odin fatherly kisses Shadow’s cheek.

Back to the dream team, MS is in the toilet of a backseat, and when he gets tired of Salim’s friendly chatter, Laura awesomely closes the partition on him. Heh.

Before she does this, however, MS takes note of the ID that obviously isn’t Salim. Interestingly, it expired in 2001.

Laura asks if Salim did kill the former owner of the ID, and in a genuinely sweet, if twisted, moment, she makes it clear he can tell her, because, she won’t judge, condemn, and/or try to get him in trouble.

Truthfully answering he didn’t, he says his name was Salim in his old life.

Browning and Omid Abtahi have great chemistry. Whereas, Browning and Pablo’s is more dynamic and fun, Browning and Abtahi’s is quieter and has a genuine warmth to it.

They talk a little about their old lives, and the phrase “(f-bomb) those assholes” is used in reference to those left behind.

MS pipes in, and tired of his use of the c-word, Laura physically grabs him. She threatens to peel his lips off the next time he uses it.

I have no objection to this.

Next, Laura insists on smoking but does agree to roll the window down. Bringing up her smell, Salim asks if she’s dead. She confirms she is.

The conversation turns to prayer, and Salim says, aside from praying to find the jinn, he doesn’t pray to ask for things but rather to thank God for what he has. He gives a beautiful speech about the connection he made with the jinn.

MS realises Salim and the jinn had sex, and I actually like all the ribbing he gives Salim during this episode.

What Salim and the jinn shared was real and beautiful, but their connection was also brief and tentative. Neither of them truly know one another.

Unfortunately, one thing I didn’t like about season 2 is largely how Salim and the jinn were handled. The acting and chemistry were great, and there were a few moments I really liked, but I was left cold at their last scenes together. Season 2 could have been about them truly getting to know one another and possibly falling in love in the process, but I’d argue this didn’t happen.

My feelings about season 2, however, don’t affect how I feel when it comes to MS here. I tend to like it when characters make fun of other characters in regards to the subject of crushes/love/relationships. When it comes to QUILTBAG characters, I don’t like it when there’s anything homophobic mixed in, but so far, MS hasn’t struck me as homophobic. It’s more amusement at a mortal being hung up on a supernatural person he had a one-night stand with.

After letting his amusement out, MS covers his face so he can sleep, and Laura quietly directs Salim to go to Indiana rather than Kentucky.

Over to a bullet factory, a ridiculously happy boss ends up falling into a pit of lava.

Yeah, I’m not sure the factory workers weren’t aware this boss was about to be sacrificed.

‘Alright, let’s give him the best work day he’s ever had until it happens. With how annoying cheerful he is, it shouldn’t be too hard, and when it’s done, we’ll no longer have to deal with this chipper shtick ever again.’

Next, Shadow and Odin arrive.

There’s a sign saying it’s legal to carry concealed, Odin explains about the chipper boss being sacrificed, and white people wearing Nazi-like red armbands armed with guns are shown. Vulcan gives a speech, and then, everyone shoots guns into the air.

What are these idiots doing? Even with a freaking god around, how is it that all these people haven’t inadvertently killed themselves and one another?

I’ve said this in other reviews, but basically, the only thing I know about gun safety is: I should never, ever touch a gun unless I am under the supervision of someone who knows all the rules of gun safety backwards, forwards, and sideways. Yet, despite my admitted lack of knowing almost anything about guns, I wouldn’t need someone actually versed in gun safety to tell me not to do this.

The crowd disperses, Odin and Vulcan greet one another, and Corbin Bernsen and Ian McShane have wonderful chemistry.

Then, the bullets start hitting the car Shadow smartly took refuge in, and thankfully, none of them go through the metal.

Still, I question how Odin is going to con some mechanic into getting all those dents out.

After the warm, happy greeting, a clear tension soon appears between the two, but they both continue to show affection.

Back with the dream team, MS is not happy to discover they aren’t in Kentucky. They go into the bar Odin and Shadow went to in the pilot. Laura orders vodka as close to rubbing alcohol as possible, MS orders something with coke, Salim orders black coffee, and the server says he’ll bring it to their table.

MS tries shaming Laura, and she makes it clear this won’t work on. Salim declares he has no use for shame, and MS arguably does have a point with his retort, “Shame, I Dream of Genie, is what kept you from getting tossed off a roof long enough to make it to America.”

Pablo does a great job here. MS is a rude, crude, unsympathetic jerk, but he’s not wrong in what he says to Laura. Essentially: Everything points to Shadow having moved on. Her undead life isn’t going to last long or be pleasant for her. She should be focused on getting the help offered rather than clinging to the firmly closed off past.

Salim is gentler in trying to encourage the same.

Next, MS brings up anal sex, and I find it fun to imagine Salim inwardly telling himself Laura having a gun would be a horrible thing, and so, he cannot give it to her and let her shoot MS, even though, he’d really like to.

MS’s metaphor boils down to him continuing to attempt to get his above point across, but Laura ignores this in favour of declaring she’s into anal sex.

Back in Vulcan, staring at a tree, Shadow has semi-flashbacks to his lynching. There’s a neat moment where Vulcan and Odin simultaneously greet a passerby. They even raise and lower their hands at the same time.

Inside, there is a dead zebra, Shadow is denied alcohol, Vulcan talks about how he’s franchised, and Odin brings up the war. Vulcan promises to be on his side, and Odin wants Vulcan to make Odin a sword.

When Vulcan goes to do so, Shadow and Odin talk. In answer to whether Odin trusts Vulcan or not, he says that he knows him. Then, he gets Shadow to concentrate on Laura, and Shadow is able to psychically see her creeping on her family.

Over to her, she leaves. Salim questioningly prompts her with their earlier exchange, and she returns it.

At the factory, having forged the sword, Vulcan admits he’s joined the New Gods. He’s been trying to keep the duo here until they come.

Odin’s response is to decapitate him followed by pushing him into the lava before his head can fall from his body, and whilst Shadow freaks, Odin urinates into the lava.

Apparently, this is not a safe thing to do, but since I highly doubt I’ll ever find myself in the position of peeing into lava, I’m not going to do any real research into it.

Elsewhere, at either the beginning or end of the day, Salim has found a spot to pull over in order to pray.

Actually being respectful, MS quietly stays out of things for once, and there’s a final sweet moment between Laura and Salim where, looking over, he offers, “God is great.”

“Life is great, Salim-Not-Salim.”

“Life is great,” he agrees. Aw.

Fin.


End file.
